Data from Jamaica's fraud squad has revealed that various kinds of scams fleeced individuals and organisations of more than US$5 billion over a five-year period.

Some of the scams recorded by the fraud squad between 2005 and 2009 involved letter of credit (L/C) fraud.

Forged documents

Official files list more than 50 offences and catalogue a variety of scams, many of which involve forged documents, while several involved failure to pay for goods or services delivered.

One type of L/C fraud involved the production of apparently legitimate documents that were supposed to be sold as investments. The documents were not used for such purposes.

Ponzi schemes

In some scams, victims were duped into paying money in anticipation of receiving something of greater value - such as a bond or a gift - but received little or nothing in return.

The fraud squad also lists several Ponzi schemes, in which investors were promised high financial returns or dividends not available through traditional investments.

Many investors received nothing, while in some of these schemes early investors were paid dividends using the funds of subsequent investors.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.